Splicing the Cable

In most installations you will need to join sections of cable. To do this, just strip half an inch of insulation off each wire. Then use a waterproof wire nut to connect the two wires. It is important that you use a waterproof wire nut since the wires will be buried outside. If you don’t the system can short out every time the grounds gets wet.

Try to place the join in a spot that does not get waterlogged, so stay away from gutter downspouts and the like. This will help prevent the system shorting out every time it rains.

It is important that you use actual waterproof wire nuts. The weatherproof wire nuts have a lid and are filled with gel to protect the spliced wire from water infiltration. You can get waterproof wire nuts at most larger hardware or electrical supply stores. For example Home Depot stocks the Ideal -WeatherProof Wire Connector” (available only instore). Waterproof wire connectors are cheap and will set you back less than a dollar a piece.

To join the two sections of wire, simply strip the half an inch of insulation off the end of each section or wire, and insert the stripped end into the wire nut. Now gently twist the wirenut until the wires become firmly joined. (you will feel gentle resistance) Overtightening will snap the wire and undertightening will result in a poor join.

I snapped the wire on my invisible fence two weeks ago and spliced it back and it worked fine until yesterday. It did get wet and was not spliced with waterproof wire nuts. Today I got a new section of wire and spliced it to the cut sections of my invisible fence wire. I plugged the unit back in and it is still beeping. Help!

ADMIN – Hi Mike. What is the model number of your electric dog fence? What is the size of your pet containment area? How many splices do you have in your perimeter loop? How old is your boundary wire?

I have my fence surrounding my screened patio in the backyard. The unit is plugged into an outside outlet with one end of each wire coming in from each side of the patio. Because of this I didn’t know how to set up a dead zone for my dog to enter the house through the doorway which is in between the two wires. I decided to cut an extra piece of wire and attach it with one end in the terminal, twist the wire a around the one coming in, then splice into that wire. I figured that would cancel the signal but it hasn’t. Help please:(

ADMIN – Hi Matt, because the system will treat twisted wire as a single wire when you splice the twisted wire into the single dog fence wire, you will have to use another layout strategy. You can run the wire up into the eaves of the roof or gutters to put the wire signal out of range. You can wrap the wire around the front of your home or you can double back and create a 3 sided double boundary. One of these solutions should work for your setup.

We had our fence installed and we love it … however our dogs made a big mess of our newly installed flower beds. Our question is can we splice into the fence and block out the dogs from getting into to the landscape areas, and how should we go about this?

ADMIN – Hi Jeff,

Yes, you can run child loops to protect the flower beds. You would run a loop around the flower bed, then connect it to the main loop using the twisted wire. You can see diagrams of this in our Installation –> Planning pages.

If moisture gets to the perimeter wire, due to poor installation, will that wire be ruined?

ADMIN – Hi Evan,

The insulated sections of wire are quite robust to moisture, water – even standing water doesn’t tend to hurt it. The splices, where the insulation is stripped away are more vulnerable. If you don’t use waterproof splices and water gets in, the copper wire can corrode and the fence will start registering a break. If this happens, not a big deal – just fix the splice. The problem will take months, even years to manifest so there is no great urgency. But, of course it is easier to do it right the first time.

Do we have to splice the wire even if we have enough to run the entire boundary and have enough to twist and run to box?

ADMIN – Hi Brenda,

There is no need to splice the wire. You can directly take the two wire and start twisting them when they come together. This is in fact superior, as it avoid the need for a splice and the splices tend to be the most fragile part of the boundary.

We have a little over an acre and have had an innotek underground fence for over a year and love it. Not thinking I began to do some yard work and forgot where the fence was and cut it. We have found it and spliced it and the light would come on the transmitter and then off at times and eventually back on. Finally it would no longer come on. We replaced th esplice a tthe break again, and no light. I then did the RF Choke test and there was a section from the splice to about 60 feet where there was no signal. I replaced the wire now from the splice to where there was no signal. Still no light. I again did the RF Choke test and I have a signal everywhere there is fence. Now I am confused. I have done the loop test, it worked. Could I have to many splices? I estimate I have 12-15 throughout the property. Thanks for any help….

Admin- Hi Ami,

You can have as many splices in the boundary as needed. The problem you are experiencing sounds like one or more of your splices are not making a good connection. I would recommend checking over your places again.

How I want to install the fence leaves me having to twist the wire and go to the end of one fence and all they way to the end of the other fence, then one wire would twist around the other twisted wires, then out to the yard to complete the loop. can I twist the wire that many times?

ADMIN – Hi John,

If I understand you correctly, you would have three wires twisted together. Unfortunately that would not work and that section of wire would be active. You can only have even numbers of wires twisted together, otherwise the section is live.

I presume you are trying to do a backyard only layout. There is no way to avoid having a complete loop of single active wire. But, we can do a few tricky things with the layout to do backyard only layouts and still let the dogs in and out of the house. The most common ways to do it are to:

Run the wire along the side of the house high up overhead (in the gutter for example) – so the signal does not reach the dog down on the ground level.

Create a big U-shaped around the three sides of the backyard, doubling back on yourself about six feet apart to create a U-shaped loop. Or

Run the loop around the front of the house.

Take a look at our Layouts Page in the Installation section for details on how to do a backyard only layout.

Almost got the layout done but might need to buy some more wire… Just going to the regular hardware store. What gauge wire should I buy?

ADMIN – Hi Marc,

You want the wire gauge to match the gauge of wire on your system. Nearly all the systems come standard with 20 gauge. Also try and use wire that is direct burial rated, it holds up much better in the soil than regular PVC coated electrical wire.

hi, having trouble and need help ! someone hit my fence where all the wires come together, my question is , do i tie ALL of my wires together at this point ie; the 2 twisted from power source and the 2 ends around property ?

ADMIN – Hi Jim,

Each twisted wire should connect to only one of the boundary wires. When installing a dog fence, all splices should be 1-to-1, there are virtually no situations where you need to splice three or more wires together.

Can you buy extra wire at Home depot that would work with the IUC-4100? See site for the wire specs on item # 100349920.

Thanks in advance!
John

ADMIN – Hi John,

Some Home Depot’s and Lowes sell PetSafe boundary wire, which is compatible with the Innotek systems. It costs about $25 for 500 feet. You can also get flags, which you will need to mark the boundary (they are in the plumbing section and usually used to mark utility lines), and you can also get waterproof wire nuts for splicing the wire.

Generally speaking, you can use any insulated single copper wire. It deos not matter if it is twisted or stranded. Preferably, get a wire that is rated for direct burial, it is going to hold up much better in the ground. (i.e. don’t use wire intended for wiring the interior of a house – you want something intended for outdoor burial)

To connect the wire to the transmitter (control) box, you strip a bit of insulation off the end of each wire, then insert the wire into a little terminal block in the transmitter box. There are two holes, one for each wire.

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Hear what our customers are saying about the Dog Fence DIY difference:

After much research, we were about to plunk down $1700 dollars for a professionally-installed invisible fence on about 7 acres around our cabin in Vermont. Then I happened on the Dog Fence DIY website. I emailed a couple of tough questions and got back prompt and informative answers. So I took the plunge: and for about $350 dollars, and with excellent advice from the Dog Fence DIY folks, I had all the materials I needed. In addition, I received their excellent eBook, which was clear, informative, and extremely helpful.

Since my property is a combination of meadows and woodland, I decided to lay the invisible fence wire on the ground, fastened with metal staples. It took about a day to set up, and maybe another half day to get the flags in, finish fastening the wire to the ground, and connect the system to the monitor. And voila: when I flipped on the switch, it worked.

We have a couple of hound dogs who follow their noses more than any commands, so I figured it would take a month or so of training. Since we were spending the month of august on vacation in our cabin, the timing seemed just right. We followed the instructions carefully, but after only two days the dogs were responding very well. So we sped up the process of training, and instead of it taking 3 to 4 weeks, it actually took only 3 or 4 days! Before the invisible fence, the dogs would sometimes run off and it could take hours to find them and get them back. But with the invisible fence, they were never too far away. The dogs had a great time and we had a great time, free of any anxiety about losing them. On top of that, of course, we saved about $1300 dollars.